Introduction to the Chicken, Stuffing and Bacon "Hobo"

I am going to be honest with you.  I am lazy.  I really like easy dinners that have not a ton of prep work.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for food labor as long as the result is something delicious.  But I really struggle with foods that have a long prep time listed in the recipe.  Unless it is something you can start and then walk away from.  Those get an immediate pass from me.

As I skim through recipes, the ones that have a short list of ingredients and that don't have a ton of steps usually end up at the top of my "to try" list.  Or on Pinterest....my "Likes".  I don't repin anything to my food board unless it is tried and true.  And any that don't pass the test are swiftly unliked.

Anywhooooo....have you ever heard of a Hobo?  In terms of food....not in terms of someone that lives on the streets?  I am new to this food term.  But maybe because I am not a die-hard camper where these make their origin?  At any rate, there was a recipe for this Chicken "hobo" and what drew me in like a moth to a flame were the following keywords: bacon, cheese, ranch and stuffing.  Ummmm yes I will be attempting this "Hobo".

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes

3 cups of broccoli florets

3 cups of chicken flavored Stovetop stuffing

3/4 cup of Cheddar cheese shredded

3 slices of bacon cookied and broken into little pieces

4 Tablespoons of ranch dressing

Salt/Pepper

Cooking spray

water

One of my favorite parts about this "hobo" is that you don't have to pre-prep the food at all, aside from mixing water in with the stuffing.  I will say that if you are going to use broccoli, don't waste your money on the bag of broccoli cuts.  Do you know what broccoli cuts are?  They are the leftovers from the bags of broccoli florets.  Usually I end up with 3/4 of a bag of the broccoli stalk and then some pretty sad looking "trees".  But you could also use a different veggie here.  Zucchini or squash maybe? Green beans? Cut out the veggie all together? I think it could probably work with anything.  Although I am not sure I would try a potato, something tells me it wouldn't cook all the way through and you would end up with weird undercooked crunchy pieces.  Mbbgguuuh.....that is the sound of me throwing up in my mouth a little.

First mix the stuffing with just enough water so it softens just a little and doesn't collect at the bottom of the bowl.  I started with 3/4 cup and slowly added more.  While that sits, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and cut 4 pieces of tin foil large enough to wrap your "hobo". I have been getting Reynolds wrap non-stick and it is a life changer.  It is thicker so it doesn't tear quite as easily.  And there is nothing worse than taking a bite of food and chomping down on a piece of foil.  Aaaacckkkkk I just got chills from the thought of it.  Anyhow, even though I buy the non-stick, I still spray it with cooking spray as a little insurance.  And butter flavored Pam is just the ticket!

Next divide the stuffing evenly on the 4 foil packets.  Then divide the chicken evenly on the stuffing.  Salt and pepper the chicken.....very important so to not have bland chicken.  Then divide the broccoli evenly on the chicken, follow suite with the cheese.  Then with the bacon, and then with the ranch. Ok I'll be honest, I didn't actually measure the ranch because we use the squirt bottle kind so I just drizzled the top with each.  I figured there was maybe 1 tablespoon on each?

Next wrap up the foil, but not too tight because you want the heat to circulate inside (apparently the oven doesn't circulate enough).  Place on cookie cheets and bake for 40 min. 

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 min.  ***Important note*** Take a knife and poke holes in the top of the foil to let steam escape.  Otherwise you could be faced with a pretty nasty steam burn.  And then that burn turns to a blister.  And then that blister pops.  And then you can get a scar.  Not to mention, it hurts like a S.O.a.B.!!!

Once you have opened this "hobo" you will see this:

I know this photo won't be winning any beauty awards, but once you start eating it you get the garlicy stuffing, juicy cheesy chicken and cheesy bacony ranch all over.  It was super good.  And the serving is much larger than in looks in this pic. Each packet was 437 calories according to my ingredients; I used reduced fat cheddar, and turkey bacon.  I REFUSE REFUSE REFUSE to buy light Ranch.  I can't stomach it. 

But this "hobo" will definitely be made again.  I give it a 5.5 out of 6 on the cheesewheel because it was easy, fiet friendly and clean-up consists of throwing away foil.  WIN!!

Dueling Dips 4-4-13

HUMMUS

I'm a hummus addict.  I love hummus.  All of it.  The kinds in packages, the kind you make at home, and especially the kind they made in the cafeteria of my old office.  And, did you know, hummus is GREAT with Fritos? 

This particular hummus recipe is like the recipe in The Naked Chef cookbook.  Except we changed the ingredients.  So...maybe not like that recipe at all.

You need the following ingredients:

2/3 cup dried chickpeas
4 tbl olive oil
1 1/2 tbl tahini
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
6 smoked sun dried tomato halves
salt
pepper

You have some thoughts about these ingredients.  Normally I would encourage free thinking.  But please, friends, do NOT use canned chickpeas.  They taste like...can.  I assure you it is very easy to cook the chickpeas, and I'll detail that below.  Also, if you're thinking you don't need tahini...you do.  And keep in mind that the olive oil is a large portion of the flavor, so if you have some fancy olive oil, use it.  As for the sun dried tomato...I use the NOT oil-soaking ones.  You could use any kind you want, or some other flavoring ingredient, like dried chilis as the original recipe specified.

For a long time, I used to soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil them.  This worked about 60% of the time.  The other 40%, I would wander away while they were cooking, forget, boil all the water off, and scorch the pan.  There was smoke.  There were shrieks.  There were replacement pans. Then I had a revelation.  The god of cooking (Alton Brown) spoke to me in a dream (meaning, on his TV show).   He revealed the truth: you can cook the chickpeas from their dried state, in your crock pot.  Place the chickpeas, and 7 cups of water (and 1/4 tsp of baking soda, if you want them soft, like we do for this recipe).  Cook in the crock pot for 8 hours.  Usually I do this a day or two before and then stash them in the fridge.

When it's time to make the hummus:  Chop up the sun dried tomatoes.  Squeeze the lemon. Put all the ingredients in the food processor. 

Process. 

DONE!  Serve with anything.  Yes, even vegetables. But my personal favorite is pita chips.  Or toasted pita.  Or Fritos.  Below I show a picture of it improving a whole grain cracker. Quite frankly it's not a good picture, but I couldn't lollygag around taking photos because there was hummus to be eaten.

I'd like to rank this dip 6 wedges out of 6 on the cheese wheel.  A rating of 6/6 normally means "I don't even share this with my loved ones."   However, since significant other actually is in charge of making the hummus, he always KNOWS it's there, so I can't hide it in the back of the fridge and eat it all when he's not home.   I would if I could.

SKINNY POOLSIDE DIP

Ummm....how can I follow a 6 out of 6 on the cheesewheel? Let's just call Hummus the winner instead of going through the painful process of running through a non-recommended dip?
Fine.

I will proceed.

But I do this for you my fellow snackees...

It has come to my attention that on more than one instance, Pinterest "Pinners" reuse pictures. Even if they are only somewhat close to what they are making. Not cool Pinners, Not cool. What this has done as confused me into thinking I was preparing the dip I really wanted.....cheesy mexicorn dip.  Just so you all know....this WILL be coming but this is unfortunately not what I made....sad.

As I was making my grocery list I started to question the ingredients, but thought...hey....there is a bag of Fritos IN THE PICTURE with the dip.  And there is corn so it must be it....WRONG.

Ingredients
2 packages of softened cream cheese
1 red pepper diced
2 jalapenos diced (remove seeds and veins if you are a heat wimp like me)
1 can of corn
1/2 can of diced green olives
1 packet of dry ranch dressing mix

First mix together the ranch seasoning and cream cheese, then dump everything else in and mix. 

That is it.  Oh how I wish this was the best dip ever because it would be so easy.  My first bite was....very olive-y.  I actually questioned whether I read the directions wrong and should have used black olives maybe?  Unfortunately no.  I still ate it, don't get me wrong.  But the longer the dip sits....the more olive-y it tastes. I love olives, but it was too much even for me.  Fritos helped it slightly, but I found myself eating the Fritos plain and then not eating the actual dip.  Dip Fail.

We were eating this at lunch and the comment I received was...."Do you know why they call it Skinny poolside dip?  Because nobody eats it, therefore they don't end up with the extra calories" Valid point my friend.  Plus we figured this made 8 servings (if you could stomach it) and each serving was 256 calories WITHOUT Fritos. Granted that was a really big serving, but how is that skinny again? Disappointing.  The recipe also stated to eat with chips or raw veggies. Was I reading this on April Fools Day? Was it opposite day and I just didn't get the memo? Do yourself a favor if you do make this.  Skip the veggies.  It is too much.  Did you see all the veggies that are already in the dip?  Why are you torturing yourself with using veggies to eat them too? If you love green olives this is maybe a dip for you, but if you prefer your green olives having been soaked in a large bloody mary like I do....take a pass on this. Scoring is a 2 out of 6 on the cheesewheel.

I wish I had Jane's hummus.....NOW.

Pizza's Long Lost Cousin....The Pepperoni Chicken

Pepperoni Chicken

Isn’t pizza one of the most perfect foods? I mean basically you are getting all of your food groups in one.  And I don’t know that I have ever had a BAD pizza.  Although I will state that I would never order a pizza that didn’t have a heaping amount of cheese, and I would never order a pizza with hearts of palm and anchovies. THOSE would be bad pizzas.  I should maybe rephrase and state that I have never ordered/purchased/ate a bad pizza.  Some have maybe been JV level pizzas and one or two maybe freshman team pizzas, but for the most part…..pizza is pizza and is still way better than vegetables.  If you live in MN/WI, I highly recommend trying “Brew Pub Pizza: Lottza Mottza”….it will change your life.

Hmmm….oh yes….pepperoni chicken!  When I was reading the ingredients and skimming the picture I thought this looked very similar to pizza so I thought I would give it the old college try.  And I have to say, it was one of the best experiments to date. It is right up with baked tacos.  Yes.  I said baked tacos so you know I am serious here. And it was totally fiet friendly which makes it that much better.

It starts with boring chicken breasts and then builds up to melty, gooey, cheesy perfection.

Ingredients:

·       1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts (although I haven’t tried it with precooked chicken I am sure this would be fine)

·       1 garlic clove minced

·       16 pieces of Turkey pepperoni

·       ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

·       2 teaspoons dried basil (or 2 Tablespoons fresh basil chopped in tiny pieces)

·       1 cup of shredded mozzarella (4 oz for those hand shredding the cheese)

·       1 ½ cups pasta sauce – I used roasted garlic flavor…is there such a thing as too much garlic? I think not.

·       Salt and Pepper

·       Garlic Salt

·       Italian seasoning

I know, I know….that doesn’t seem like many ingredients.  Less ingredients means easier in my book, and this was no exception.  I did shred the cheese by hand….did you know that myfitnesspal counts food preparation as cardiovascular exercise?  I did.  Hence shredding the cheese by hand.  I will take any calorie I can get.

Ok, first start by slicing into your chicken breast to make two equal sized portions.  Sort of like butterflying it, but cutting all the way through. Or I suppose you could use chicken cutlets.  But I will be honest that I don’t really know what these are….are those the raw chicken tenders?  Then make sure you have appropriately seasoned your chicken breasts.  Liberally salt and pepper both sides of each piece of chicken.  I also use garlic salt and a shake of Italian seasoning. There is nothing worse than bland chicken.  Do you know what it reminds me of? FIET FOOD.  Which is exactly what you don’t want it to taste like.  Fiet food should taste like real food with lower calories.  So please, I beg of you, for the love of everything holy, season your chicken.  Then cook your chicken all the way through in a pan just shy of medium heat. Oh…very important…make sure you either use a pan that is oven safe, or have an oven-safe dish ready that can go in the oven (I call these casserole dishes but whatevs).

While that is cooking, preheat your broiler. Then take 10 pieces of the pepperoni and chop them into little pieces.  Add to a small sauce pan with the garlic and sauté over medium low heat until the garlic starts to turn brown.  Then add the spaghetti sauce, oregano and basil (if you are using fresh basil maybe wait until the last minute so it doesn’t turn all brown and unappetizing).

When the chicken is fully cooked, spoon the spaghetti sauce mixture over each piece so that it is covered.  This should use about 1 cup of the sauce mixture.  Then top each piece with the shredded cheese.  Use all of the cheese.  There are starving children out there,  far be it from me to waste any. Oh and remember those 6 pieces of pepperoni that didn’t get used before?  Cut them in half, and place on each portion of chicken.  My 1 lb of chicken was 3 chicken breasts (or 6 after I cut them in half) so it ended up that each piece had two halves of pepperoni nestled on top.  But if you are all artsy and want to chop the pepperoni up and sprinkle on top, I will leave that up to you.

Now, place under the broiler but watch it very closely.  You just want the cheese to start turning brown.  Or the same color that you would prefer your pizza cheese. And don’t forget to use an oven mitt when you take the pan back out of the oven…or when you go to serve.  This is where I failed.  I totally remembered the oven mitt for retrieving from the oven.  But somewhere between seeing the glorious melted cheese and wanting it on my plate asap….I forgot that the pan was SUPER hot and I grabbed it.  I swore a few times and then remembered there were child ears nearby.  Parent fail.  Oh well, my parent of the year award will have to wait until next year.

Anyways, you could serve this over noodles if you want, just cook the noodles and then add to the remainder of the sauce.  I used a spaghetti squash so after I cooked the squash, (see the post on peanut sauce for directions), I scooped out the “noodles” and added to my ½ cup of leftover sauce.  This doesn’t seem like it would be enough sauce, but the star of the show is the pepperoni chicken.  We don’t need the bridesmaid trying to outshine the bride here…..

This recipe made 3 servings and each serving was 314 cals.  So I got two pieces of chicken smothered in cheese.   Then I added in the spaghetti squash at 42 cals.  And then Pepperidge farm garlic cheese toast at 150 cals a slice.  The entire meal was 506.  But if you don’t have as many calories left you could leave out the bread **sniffle**. 

Total fiet win!